Groundwater Overexploitation in the North China Plain: A Path to Sustainability

The agricultural sector increasingly relies on groundwater abstraction for irrigation in many regions of the world. Expansion of irrigated agriculture and groundwater use has contributed to increased food production and has improved food security. At the same time, the depletion of groundwater resources by excessive pumping has become a common challenge in key agricultural production areas across the world, threatening the sustainability of production. Over-pumping of aquifers causes ecological and environmental degradation of vegetation, wetlands, and streams and reduces the ability of aquifers to serve as a buffer for weather extremes induced by climate change. Unsustainable use of groundwater needs to be urgently addressed through sustainable rehabilitation and management strategies, in order to assure the availability of groundwater, today and for future generations. Recognizing the groundwater over-exploitation issue in the North China Plain, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Ministry of Water

Resources of the People’s Republic of China co-launched the project “Rehabilitation and management strategies of over-pumped aquifers in a changing climate” in 2014, in partnership with the China Geological Survey. The leading project implementation partner on the Chinese side was the General Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Planning Design (GIWP), while the leading project implementation partner on the Swiss side was the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich.